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“I don’t want to compete,” April said nervously. “I just want to see what it’s like to be invisible.
For just a minute. Then I want to come back.”
“Well, I’m going for the world’s record,” Zack boasted, leaning against the mirror frame.
“Me, too,” Erin said.
“I really don’t think it’s a good idea,” I told them, staring at my reflection in the mirror. “We
should just get invisible for a short time. It’s too dangerous to—”
“What a wimp!” Zack declared, shaking his head.
“We’ll be careful, Max,” Erin said.
“I just have a really bad feeling,” I confessed. My hair was standing up in the back. I stepped
closer to the mirror to see better, and smoothed it down with my hand.
“I think we should all get invisible at the same time,” Zack said to me, his blue eyes lighting up
with excitement. “Then we could go to the playground and scare your brother to death!”
Everyone laughed except April. “I just want to try it for a minute,” she insisted. “That’s all.”
“First we compete,” Erin told Zack. “Then we go out and scare people.”
“Yeah! All right!” Zack exclaimed.
I decided to give up. There was no sense in trying to reason with Zack and Erin. They were too
psyched for this competition. “Okay, let’s get it over with,” I told them.
“But first I go,” April said, turning back to the mirror.
Zack reached up for the string again. “Ready? On three,” he said.
I turned to the door as Whitey came sniffing his way in, his nose lowered to the floor, his tail
straight out behind him.
“Whitey, what are you doing up here?” I asked.
He ignored me and continued sniffing furiously.
“One… two…” Zack started.
“When I say ‘ready’, bring me back. Okay?” April asked, standing stiffly, staring straight ahead
into the mirror. “No jokes or anything, Zack.”
“No jokes,” Zack replied seriously. “As soon as you want to come back, I’ll turn off the light.”
“Good,” April replied softly.
Zack began his count again. “One… two… three!”
As he said three and pulled the string, Whitey stepped up beside April.
The light flashed on.
“Whitey!” I screamed. “Stop!”
But it was too late.
With a yelp of surprise, the dog vanished along with April.